Monday, March 14, 2016

March 14, 2016 - KANSAS, UNITED STATES - Five rail cars of Amtrak's Los Angeles-Chicago passenger train
have derailed in Kansas. Approximately 142 passengers and crew were on
board, 29 of whom sustained injuries and are being treated in local
hospitals.

UPDATE: The engineer applied the emergency brakes after noticing a "significant bend in a rail," an unnamed official familiar with the investigation told AP Monday afternoon. Investigators are now checking if a vehicle may have damaged the track, the agency reported.

The incident occurred in Gray County, Kansas, some 3 miles (about 5km) outside Cimarron.

"Just after midnight CT, Amtrak Southwest Chief Train 4, operating from Los Angeles to Chicago, derailed some cars approximately 20 miles west of Dodge City, Kansas, on BNSF track," Amtrak said in a statement, adding there were approximately 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.

Local emergency responders provided on-site response, while approximately 20 passengers were transported to hospitals in Garden City and Dodge City, the passenger rail service said.

The number of hospitalized increased to 29, Gray County spokeswoman Ashley Rogers said later in the evening, Associated Press reported. No life-threatening wounds were sustained by the victims, she added.

Susan Morgan, the mother of one of the passengers, told KAKE News the Southwest Chief train was heading east from Los Angeles toward Chicago. Morgan said her daughter, a college student in Arizona, was helped out of a window to safety after the train started shaking while traveling at 75 miles per hour (120km).

Eight people were killed and over 200 injured last year in May when an Amtrak train heading from Washington to New York tumbled from its rails just outside Philadelphia. The train was traveling at more than 100 miles per hour (over twice the speed limit) when it entered a curve in the tracks and derailed, investigators said. - RT.

March 14, 2016 - UNITED STATES - The windstorm that swept through the Northwest on Sunday had some of
the wind speed and low pressure associated with tropical hurricanes,
according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.

We nearly witnessed a hurricane.
The spring storm that rushed through the Northwest on Sunday,
bringing wind gusts as high as 80 mph on the coast, showed a classic
spiral pattern and extreme low pressures more familiar to Florida.

"Storm looks like a hurricane! The central pressure is deeper than
expected, 978 mb," the National Weather Service vented on Twitter around
1:30 p.m., with a photo of the eye of the storm offshore from Olympic
National Park.

The intensity was expected to peak at 4:30 p.m., and dissipate over
Vancouver Island in a few hours, said Jay Albrecht, a weather-service
meteorologist in Seattle.

The edges of the spiral extended Sunday afternoon from Arlington to just
north of Hoquiam, he said, taking in large areas of Puget Sound and the
Pacific Coast.

Gusts reached 82 mph at Destruction Island
on the north Pacific Coast, 74 mph at Moclips beach just north of Grays
Harbor, and 62 mph at Discovery Park in Seattle, he said.

Winds were shifting direction around the epicenter, which passed
Forks at around 3:30 p.m. On the Olympic Peninsula, wind directions
pivoted during the day from northeast, to northwest, to west, Albrecht
said.

The low-pressure center of the storm attracts winds inward, but the
rotation of the earth counters that tendency by pulling wind directions
"to the right," he said. So on the coast, winds began from the south,
then kept shifting as the eye moved toward Canada.

On the edge of the storm, the Seattle area received winds from the south, the same direction as during any ordinary rainstorm.

Albrecht called Sunday's episode an "extratropical storm," meaning
outside the tropics but with similar characteristics. Gusts hovered near
the 74 mph benchmark that defines hurricane-force winds, he said.

But there were big differences:

A hurricane can last for weeks, but this Northwest storm took about one
day to travel from northern California to British Columbia, Albrecht
said. The center of the action sped north at about 40 mph through
Washington state, compared to 10 mph or 15 mph for a tropical hurricane.

Also, hurricane winds are sustained in a gulf-type storm. Here, gusts were brief.

The low atmospheric pressure of 978 millibars off the Olympic Peninsula
compared to 990 or 1,000 millibars during a basic windstorm, or 1,015
millibars on a nice March day, Albrecht said.

The weather system arrived four hours earlier than meteorologists
expected, so the worst phase ended by late afternoon, instead of around 9
p.m. Sunday.

It followed another windstorm last week, when gusts reached 60 mph in the Puget Sound area.

Low pressures are a product of the global water cycle, which produces
the familiar jet stream over the Pacific. Winds in the upper atmosphere,
at 30,000 to 40,000 feet elevation, have reached 230 mph to 240 mph
recently, Albrecht said. The jet stream has been intense, perhaps
because of the El Niño seasonal pattern, he said.

As for the spiral effect — winds that gain speed near the storm's center
— he compared that to a figure skater who spins faster by retracting
her arms. - The Seattle Times.

March 14, 2016 - UNITED STATES - At least 24 inches of rain fell in the hardest hit places, causing chaos for rescue workers.

Six people have died in southern states as a result of widespread
flooding and extreme weather which has submerged homes, prompted large
evacuations and caused chaos for authorities and rescue workers.

Now around two million people are bracing for more bad weather this week.

Heavy rain and rising rivers have affected Louisiana, Mississippi,
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas over the last week, according to
The Weather Channel.

In Louisiana, authorities evacuated close to 3,300 people and hundreds
of pets. Around 5,000 homes in the state were damaged by flooding, with
800 houses in Mississippi also affected.

Continued search and rescue efforts w partner first responders during Newton/Jasper County area flooding. pic.twitter.com/NIkJMZ1Elu

Up to 24 inches of rain fell in some places and the impacts are expected
to continue over the coming days and weeks as the rivers continue to
rise.

The AP reported that Louisiana Governor John Bel
Edwards declared a state of emergency for the entire state and sent
1,000 soldiers and air crews to help with rescues. President Obama
signed an order declaring the flood in the state an emergency on Sunday.

Four deaths were reported last Wednesday in Louisiana, all as a result of driving or traveling on flooded roads.

A 78-year-old man's boat overturned while he attempted to cross a
flooded section of highway. A 75-year-old man also died when he crossed a
flooded highway in his car.

Another 22-year-old man drowned after his car was swept off the road by floodwater.

A six-year-old girl also died when her mother lost control of the car they were driving in.
The river along the Mississippi-Louisiana border could reach 21 feet,
according to the National Weather Service forecasts, the same height as
experienced during the 1983 flood, the AP said.

WATCH: Widespread flooding in southern states.

In Oklahoma, a 30-year-old man drowned in his car after trying to cross a
flooded bridge. His passenger managed to swim to safety.

A Mississippi sheriff's deputy was hospitalized after his patrol car
skidded into a ditch last Friday, and he is reportedly recovering at
home.

Six tornadoes were confirmed in Texas last week after the recent spell of extreme weather.

Strong winds have torn the roofs from houses and petrol stations. One
man was taken to hospital when winds peeled a roof off a building and
dumped it on top of a van, according to the Dallas Morning News.

In the same state, a 22-year-old man drowned after he went kayak fishing before a storm approached. - Independent.

March 14, 2016 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.

Giant sperm whale found dead on East Bali beach

A beached whale, reportedly measuring 16.2 meters in length, was found in Klungkung, East Bali early on Monday morning.

Local fishermen Negah Sunarta, 37, and Nengah Darpa, 35, found the whale
at Batu Tumpeng Beach, Gelgel Village when they were catching lobster.

"We usually look for lobsters on this beach. We were shocked with the
whale. After we approached, it turned out to be dead," Sunarta said, as
quoted in a report by Praise Sukiswanti, published by Sindo News.

The whale caused quite the commotion as hundreds of curious people apparently gathered around it to gawk and take pictures.

Unfortunately, as you can see from some of these photos posted to social
media, the dead whale was not allowed to rest in peace right away as
people saw a photo op and jumped right on.

Along with the many photos all over Bali social media, the presence
of the poor washed up whale was confirmed by Klungkung Police Chief
Arendra Wahyudi, who said on Monday afternoon that police were still
coordinating with the Klungkung Department of Fisheries and Marine
Affairs, the Natural Resource Conservation body (KSDA), and the Regional
Disaster Management Agency (BPKB) to remove the whale from the beach.

A KSDA officer, Wayan Surata, told Tribun Bali that the whale was Physeter macrochepalus, or a sperm whale.

He added that he believes the whale was separated from its group and
must have drifted off before it was stranded on the East Bali beach,
that's part of the whale's migratory route. - Coconuts Bali.

Dolphins, whales found dead on Queensland beach

A female whale, her calf and a dolphin have been found dead on Sunshine Coast beaches in Queensland.

The pygmy sperm whale calf and dolphin became stranded at Peregian
Beach, while the mother whale was found about 2km north near Noosa on
Sunday, the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection says.

Samples have been taken from the animals and a local council is arranging for the carcasses to be removed.

Photos of the animals were posted to the Peregian Beach Village Facebook page on Sunday.

"Sadly 3 sea mammals have washed up dead on the early morning high tide," the post read.

"The Coolum Coast Care team are on the scene with Humpback Whale
research scientist Dr. Michael Noad, who just happened to be coming down
to check the surf."

The post said it wasn't known how the mammals died, but it appeared the whales had been bitten by sharks. - 9 News.

More than 1 million sea slugs wash onto Thai beach

Marine experts are attempting to understand why more than a million sea slugs washed up on a Phuket beach this morning.

The name 'sea slug' is a common name used specifically for gastropods
that are not shell-bearing or appear not to be shell-bearing. Experts
believe that the sea slugs found on Kamala Beach are, in fact, sea
hares. However, they have yet to determine the exact species.

"Adult sea hares are mostly large, bulky creatures. Juveniles are
usually not noticed along the shoreline," said Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong
from the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC). "However, that doesn't
appear to be the case here."

WATCH: Slimy balls infest Kamala Beach.

'Sea hare' is a direct translation from the Latin lepus marinus,
which is derived from their rounded shape and from the two long
rhinophores that project upwards from their heads, thought to look
similar to the ears of a hare.

"A team was sent up there to collect samples of both the animals and the
seawater to determine exactly what has caused this," said Charatsee
Aungtonya, a marine expert from the Department of Marine and Coastal
Resources (DMCR) Region 5.

Officials at the PMBC and the DMCR Region 5 were made aware of the
situation after local social media networks became abuzz with pictures
of the tiny marine creatures on the shore of Kamala. - Phuket Gazette.